The present invention relates to a device providing a connection between a boot binding and a sliding board, particularly a snowboard, comprising means for adjusting the position of the binding relative to the snowboard both in terms of translation and in terms of rotation.
As explained in patent FR 2 736 842, the content of which is incorporated by reference, the positions adopted for board riding vary greatly according to the discipline being practiced, the level of ability or the habit of the user. As is explained in that document, the feet may be closer together or farther apart or may be more or less inclined with respect to the longitudinal axis of the board, the orientations of the feet generally being not mutually parallel. For fuller details, reference may be made to that document. It is therefore important to be able to alter the position of the bindings on the board and the orientation of these bindings relative to the board.
Document FR 2 736 842proposes, for this purpose, an interface which is intended to be mounted between the board and the binding, this interface comprising two rails shaped as slideways and inserted longitudinally in the board along its longitudinal axis and two mounting plates equipped with a slider capable of running in the rails and which can be angularly oriented about a vertical axis, quick-clamping means allowing the mounting plates to be immobilized on the board. Each mounting plate has four threaded holes for fixing the base of the boot binding, these four holes replacing the insert found in standard boards. An interface such as this has the advantage of quick adjustment but requires a special board, the rigidity of which is increased by the insertion of the rails, these rails in any event altering the dynamic behavior of the board. An interface such as this also has a significant weight. In spite of this, such an interface does not offer the possibility of adjusting the position of the binding by movement in a direction transverse to the longitudinal axis of the board, although such xe2x80x9cfore-aftxe2x80x9d adjustment is becoming increasingly in demand by the users.
Patent FR 2755 025, the content of which is incorporated by reference, also discloses a device providing a connection between a snowboard and a boot binding, this connecting device comprising a mounting plate intended to be fixed by means of screws into the standard (4xc3x974) inserts of a snowboard, this mounting plate having grooves parallel to the longitudinal axis of the board and having a T-profile in which are mounted gib nuts for securing the base of the boot binding, which binding is of the type that can be oriented about a central disk in the example described. This construction has the advantage that it can be adapted to any standard board, that is to say to any board equipped with inserts in the customary 4 xc3x974configuration, but it still does not allow xe2x80x9cfore-aftxe2x80x9d adjustment.
A connecting device that does allow xe2x80x9cfore-aftxe2x80x9d adjustment is described in Japanese patent application 11-197287, the content of which is incorporated by reference. The base of the binding is held by the stack of a perforated disk, a plate with four oblong holes or slots and a rectangular plate holding everything on the snowboard by four screws. To adjust the orientation of the binding, the stack is simply slackened. The intermediate plate can move in just one direction relative to the disk, along a graduated scale, but its oblong holes, oriented at right angles to its direction of travel, allow it to move relative to the upper plate, allowing xe2x80x9cfore-aftxe2x80x9d adjustment. This construction is equivalent to a simplified construction simply employing a perforated disk and a holding plate. In any event, a significant amount of space is needed, in the plane of the disk between the interior edge of the disk and the plate which holds it, to provide this adjustment, and the disk is held, parallel to its plane, only by the forces of friction generated by the tightening of the screws. These forces may prove insufficient to hold the binding in the event of sudden and relatively high loadings exerted on the connection, as occurs when snowboarding. In addition, given the loadings that the perforated disk has to withstand, this disk can hardly be made of plastic.
The object of the invention is to produce a simple and compact connecting device with multi-directional adjustment and which very reliably holds the boot binding in place in a plane parallel to the snowboard.
The connecting device according to the invention is one which consists of a circular disk intended to be fixed to the snowboard and to fit into a circular ring intended to hold the boot binding on the snowboard, the interior circular contour of the ring into which the disk fits being eccentric relative to the exterior contour of the ring.
The ring provides mechanical continuity between the base of the binding and the disk. This continuity and the relatively small eccentricity make it practically impossible for the binding to shift even if the fixing screws are slackened. The disk and the ring may advantageously be made of plastic, which reduces their weight by comparison with an embodiment in metal.
The amount of adjustment in a direction transverse to the longitudinal axis of the board is largely sufficient for the requirements. As far as adjustment along the longitudinal axis of the board is concerned, the amount in this direction may be increased if necessary by using a disk with parallel oblong holes for the passage of the screws for fixing to the board.
Adjustment using the eccentric ring may be continuous but, in this case, one of the securing methods guarding against relative rotation of the disk and the ring or of the ring and the fixing base will be simply by friction. It is preferable to adopt an almost continuous adjustment using sets of teeth between, on the one hand, the disk and the ring and, on the other hand, the ring and the fixing base. Of course, one of the connections could be by sets of teeth and the other by friction.